Let's rewind the clocks to one year ago. America needed the stimulus package. We couldn't live without it. That's what our leaders were telling us then:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE NANCY PELOSI: Failure to act quickly can only lead to more job losses and more economic pain for Americans.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: I don't believe that it's too late to change course. But it will be if we don't take dramatic action as soon as possible. If nothing is done, this recession could linger for years. The unemployment rate could reach double digits.
The situation could not be more serious.
It's time to pass an economic recovery and reinvestment plan to get our economy moving.
VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: This is about getting this out and spent in 18 months, to create 3.5 million jobs and to set — tee this up, so the rest of the good work that's being done here literally dropkicks us out of this recession and we begin to grow again.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
Yes, America might not recover if we didn't borrow more money from places like China and then recklessly spend it.
So, how has the plan worked out? Vice President Joe Biden had this glowing review:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
BIDEN: This act, along with everything else we did, helped us avoid a depression. It also succeeded in saving or creating 2 million of jobs so far.
It was designed to have two stages to it. We've only been halfway through the act. The job creating portions are really loaded in the second half here and the major projects that are going to be being built but yes, they have gotten money's worth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Two stages? Was the first stage just to waste our money? That's new to me. Did you know that? Well it's good to know that they didn't work on job creation in the first part, because unemployment has gone from 8.2 percent to 9.7 percent. And there was no intent to restore the economy either: America owes $1.6 trillion more today than we did a year ago.
I can't tell you how many people I meet who now have jobs because of the stimulus. If I had a dollar for every time I ran into someone positively affected by the stimulus, I'd have well...
• Do you know anyone whose job was saved or created by the stimulus? Click here to sound off
Anyway, the president offered his assessment today:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: The Recovery Act was never intended to save every job or restore our economy to full strength. No bill or government program can do that. Businesses are the true engines of growth. Businesses are the engines of job creation in this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Did I hear right? The president said that government can't restore the economy? That's weird, because I think it was about a year ago when he told America this:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: The federal government is the only entity left with the resources to jolt our economy back into life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
But now that it's not working, seems he's playing a different tune. Valerie Jarrett chalked the bad wrap on the stimulus over PR struggles: "It's hard to get out positive news stories when people tend to focus on what's going wrong as opposed to what's going well." She added that the administration has "not done a good enough job explaining" how the plan has helped people.
I can't take it anymore.
Mr. President, we can hear your! The American people can hear you! And you and the people who have done this to the American economy are about to hear from us.
Let's say you broke your leg. You go to the hospital and your leg is fixed. And you get back on your feet — you're feeling good. You don't need the doctor to say, "You don't have a broken leg anymore." Same with the stimulus: If it were actually helping people, Valerie, you wouldn't have to explain it better.
In fact, it's working so poorly that polls show that more people believe Elvis is alive than believe the stimulus actually worked.
That's how much of a disaster this thing has been. I mean, Joe Biden is in charge of it. What did you expect?
Only about a third of the stimulus money has been spent. Wait, I thought it was an emergency? Anyway, what about those lucky people who actually got money? Who are they? One lucky recipient was Serious Windows, a small window manufacturer. In a strange, unrelated coincidence, the VP of policy for Serious Windows happens to be married to Obama's weatherization "czar" Cathy Zoi.
Small world, huh?
And now, many of the places that received money from the stimulus package — like schools who were struggling — well, the money has dried up and now they are broke again. This wasn't about creating jobs. None have been "created," they just prolonged the inevitable and, in the process, wasted taxpayer money.
But that's not stopping the White House from coming out and saying that it saved us from another Great Depression. Really? I thought that was TARP's job.
No one will tell you the truth. You know, before they announced it, I was actually for some form of TARP and the reason was, if you can just hold off the collapse for a while, you can use that time to wake people up, help them to prepare. But they haven't used it for that. They've used it to convince us that everything is just dandy. We fixed that mess George W. Bush made, huh? And they are using it for the fundamental transformation of this country. Want something to pass? Don't worry about it; we'll jam it in the next stimulus. Congress is being circumvented and is becoming irrelevant.
Fundamental transformation or restoration; one of the two is heading our way.
I can't say it enough: prepare. Use this time wisely. While they argue over which jobs were "saved" and look for Elvis, save your money. Get out of debt. When a store is offering two for one, do what your grandparents did. Most importantly educate yourself. Know history, the Constitution.
If I'm wrong (and I hope I am) then no big deal. Better safe than sorry. When has that been bad in America? Ben Franklin would be proud. But I beg you to consider that the worst is not behind us. It's yet to begin.
Two stories to pay attention to from the last 24 hours:
• China: Data just released showed that foreign purchases of U.S. treasuries fell in December, the largest on record
Remember, China is our bank. They are loaning us the money. Experts said they'll never stop buying them. Not only are they not buying, they are getting rid of them. Their cut in debt purchases is their lowest level in a year and makes Japan now the United States largest holder of our debt. Actually, the largest holder of our debt is the Fed. That's your right pocket selling it to your left pocket.
• Greece: Economists are now saying that the U.S. is actually in worse shape than Greece is.
Have you seen what's going on in Greece? They are bankrupt. Overall debt was 113.4 percent of GDP. Hmm, out-of-control debt and deficits plus no slowdown in government spending; where have I heard that before?
Their weak finances are threatening the EU and the EU just punished Greece by stripping them of their right to vote at critical meeting next month. Greece is the cradle of democracy. It means Greece has no more sovereignty in the EU. California you'd better pay attention.
We're doing the same things. And did you see Great Britain is dealing with "unexpected" inflation?
Oh Glenn, that could never happen here in America!
Really? How did Great Britain get to this point? Let's see:
• They socialized their medicine. We're following their lead on that one
• They pushed the risky mortgages. We followed their lead on that one too
• They took over the banks. We followed their lead on that one with TARP
• They printed more money. We followed on that one too
And now they have inflation? Guess who's also going to be following that one?
Please, remember your grandparents' fruit cellar. Use the time wisely. Again, the reason why I was initially for some form of TARP was so we could buy time. Prepare. Protect anything that we do have that's healthy. And at least we'd have something left to restart the engine after it stalls. We're America. We'll make it! We have to use common sense.
And don't tell me that the politicians don't know. Look at Evan Bayh and Patrick Kennedy. Why do you think they are out now? Bayh had a 20-point lead. He's getting out now so there's something left of his reputation.
Put yourself in a self reliant situation. You will weather the storm. You'll do more than that, you'll thrive and you will lead. Because, deep down inside — and maybe you've forgotten — we're Americans. We're the ones that come when the chips are all down and the game is about to be lost. That's when we are at our best.
Prepare. Just in case of the off-chance that this stimulus package — in phase 2, 3, 4 or 5 — doesn't work out like they planned.
— Watch "Glenn Beck" weekdays at 5 p.m. ET on Fox News Channel
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